US open: Stocks sharply lower following August CPI report

dl wall street new york city wall st nyc new york stock exchange nyse nasdaq us usa united states of america trading finance unsplash — Sharecast / Roberto Junior via Unsplash

Wall Street stocks were firmly in the early on Wednesday as market participants digested last month's consumer inflation report.

As of 1525 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1.69% at 40,046.64, while the S&P 500 lost 1.33% to 5,422.68 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 0.87% weaker at 16,878.14.

The Dow opened 690.32 points lower on Wednesday, extending losses recorded in the previous session.

Wednesday's main event was August's consumer price index, which revealed that the rate of increase in the cost of living slowed sharply last month, as food inflation eased off and energy prices fell. Core consumer price gains, on the other hand, picked up a tad.

According to the US Department of Labor, the rate of increase in the country's headline Consumer Price Index slowed from 2.9% in July to 2.5% for August. Economists had pencilled in a reading 2.6%. In month-on-month terms, food prices edged up by 0.1% after a 0.2% increase in June, whilst energy costs dropped by 0.8%.

Elsewhere on the macro front, mortgage applications rose 1.4% in the week ended 6 September, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America, following a 1.6% increase in the previous week. Applications to purchase a home were up 2%, while refinance applications rose 1%.

In the corporate space, GameStop shares sunk after the video game retailer amended an open market sale agreement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com

Dow Jones - Risers

Apple Inc. (AAPL) $220.91 0.36%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $414.95 0.18%
Dowdupont Inc. (DWDP) $0.00 0.00%
American Express Co. (AXP) $245.37 -0.02%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $114.70 -0.55%
Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $244.60 -0.64%
International Business Machines Corporation (CDI) (IBM) $203.59 -0.84%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $18.81 -0.90%
Walmart Inc. (WMT) $78.05 -0.96%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $77.29 -1.02%